From his 1539 landing in modern day Florida until his death somewhere along the Mississippi River almost three years later, the Spanish explorer Hernando de Soto wreaked havoc on every Native American province through which he passed. However, the exact route he followed and the locations of the battles between his army and the native towns is a subject that has preoccupied historians and archaeologists, as well as the public, since the early 1800s. In southern Alabama, a battle took place in a fortified town called Mabila between de Soto’s army and a chieftain named Tuscaloosa. The conflict took a large number of casualties on both sides, and the Spanish also lost trunks of clothing, blankets, tents, weapons, tools, medicine, and spoils taken from other Indian towns.
Unlike some of the other encounters between de Soto and Native Americans, it’s thought that, due to its intensity, archaeological evidence of the battle exits, but the exact location of Mabila is unknown. Documenting its location would shed light on the entire de Soto route. The Search for Mabila, edited by Vernon James Knight, Jr., does not claim to do this. Instead, the volume proposes a “broader approach” to locating Mabila and details the efforts of a multidisciplinary group of experts that convened for a three-day workshop in 2006. As Knight points out, researchers have more resources than ever at their disposal, and therefore the authors incorporate information from the fields of history, geology, folklore, geography and archaeology to develop a new approach to locating Mabila.
The Search for Mabila is a fascinating volume that provides readers all the existing information about where Mabila could be found as well as a synopsis of a new method for finding it. Knight notes that the search continues, and he stresses in his introduction, “It really does not matter to us in the slightest way which modern town or city can lay claim to having Mabila in its backyard. Our desire is simply to learn more about a fascinating but keenly intractable period of early American history.” —Jessica Crawford
